This blog focuses on news and information regarding practice in the federal courts in the Eastern District of California, with a special emphasis on criminal and civil rights cases.

Blog Author

John Balazs is an attorney in Sacramento, California, specializing in criminal defense, including appeals, habeas corpus, pardons, expungements, and civil forfeiture actions. After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1989, he clerked for Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. John was an Assistant Federal Defender in Fresno and Sacramento from 1992-2001. He currently serves as an adjunct professor in clinical trial advocacy at the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. Please email EDCA items of interest to Balazslaw@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @balazslaw.

Disclaimer

This blog is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this blog should be construed as legal advice. The law can change rapidly and information in this blog can become outdated. Do your own research or consult with an attorney.

October 12, 2015

Reproductive health clinics run by abortion opponents moved immediately to head off enforcement of a bill signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown that would require the clinics to inform patients that abortion services are available elsewhere.

On Saturday in Sacramento federal court, religiously affiliated clinics in Marysville and Redding that don’t offer abortions sued California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a sponsor of the new law, asking for an injunction preventing it from taking effect Jan. 1.

“At a minimum,” the lawsuit charges, AB 775 “unconstitutionally compels (the clinics) to speak messages that they have not chosen, with which they do not agree, and that distract, and detract from, the messages they have chosen to speak,” in violation of their free speech rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

In addition, the suit claims, “Disseminating the mandated state message, which is inconsistent with plaintiffs’ religious convictions, burdens these clinics’ free exercise of religion, secured under the First Amendment.”

The 18-page complaint, filed on behalf of the clinics by the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative, nonprofit legal organization in Sacramento, asks the court to declare the Reproductive Fact Act unconstitutional and prohibit its enforcement.

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Reproductive health clinics run by abortion opponents moved immediately to head off enforcement of a bill signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown that would require the clinics to inform patients that abortion services are available elsewhere.

On Saturday in Sacramento federal court, religiously affiliated clinics in Marysville and Redding that don’t offer abortions sued California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a sponsor of the new law, asking for an injunction preventing it from taking effect Jan. 1.

“At a minimum,” the lawsuit charges, AB 775 “unconstitutionally compels (the clinics) to speak messages that they have not chosen, with which they do not agree, and that distract, and detract from, the messages they have chosen to speak,” in violation of their free speech rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

In addition, the suit claims, “Disseminating the mandated state message, which is inconsistent with plaintiffs’ religious convictions, burdens these clinics’ free exercise of religion, secured under the First Amendment.”

The 18-page complaint, filed on behalf of the clinics by the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative, nonprofit legal organization in Sacramento, asks the court to declare the Reproductive Fact Act unconstitutional and prohibit its enforcement.